Fishing apparatus and power plant

ABSTRACT

A buoyant main body has a sleeve extending therethrough anchored to the water bottom to provide a stationary hub about which the buoyant body may rotate by the use of vanes which engage the water and the air to take advantage of the currents thereof. A power plant is mounted on the body and is driven by gearing from the hub. Outwardly of the buoyant body a large buoyant ring is supported in concentric relation by means of guy wires from a centrally extending derrick and is maintained in proper position by radially extending elements upon which nets, fishhooks and the like for catching fish are mounted so that the rotary movement of the buoyant body and ring cover a large area to attract many fish which are then collected in the usual manner. Means are provided for rendering the current engaging vanes inoperative when the current is opposite the direction of desired movement. The buoyant body may be a boat or a drum and may have the usual power propulsion means.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Evan G.Sullivan 1,717,835 6/1929Calhoun 43/6.5 P.O. Box 23, Cookville, Tex. 75558 2,122,836 7/1938Gegerfeldt 43/15X 1969 Primary ExaminerWamer H. Camp Patented p 13, 1971Attorneys-Munson H. Lane and Munson H. Lane, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A buoyant main body has a sleeve extending therethroughanchored to the water bottom to provide a stationary hub about which thebuoyant body may rotate by [54] 2 POWER PLANT the use of vanes whichengage the water and the air to take g g advantage of the currentsthereof. A power plant is mounted [52] US. Cl 43/8, on the body and isdriven by gearing from the hub, ()utwardly 4 ,4 of the buoyant body alarge buoyant ring is supported in [51] Int. Cl Afilk 73/00, concentricrelation by means of guy wires from a centrally A011(75/00 extendingderrick and is maintained in proper position by [50] Field Of Search 43/l, 4, 6.5, radially extending elements upon which nets, fishhooks andthe like for catching fish are mounted so that the rotary movement ofthe buoyant body and ring cover a large area to [56] References C'tedattract many fish which are then collected in the usual UNITED STATESPATENTS manner. Means are provided for rendering the current 245,2518/1881 Williams 43/13 engaging vanes inoperative when the current isopposite the 642,935 2/1900 Theall 416/85 direction of desired movement.The buoyant body may be 21 1,123,357 1/1915 Oman 416/85 boat or a drumand may have the usual power propulsion 1,562,439 11/1925 Crawford43/4221 means.

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FISHING APPARATUS AND POWER PLANT This invention relates to the subjectmatter of my prior application Ser. No. 650,972, filed Jul. 3, I967 forFluid Current Motor, now US. Pat. No. 3,442,492, dated May 6, I969.

Heretofore, various types of fishing equipment have been used but suchequipment has required substantial external sources of power and has nottaken advantage of the natural flow of currents of water and currents ofair and consequently have not been sufficiently economical for smalloperations.

An object of the present invention is to provide fishing equipment whichprovides its own power and assures sufiicient motion of fishing nets andfishhooks to maintainthe fish on the hooks and in the nets.

Another object is to provide a motor which assures taking advantage ofall sources of natural power available to fishermen.

Other and further objects will be apparent as the description proceedsand upon reference to the accompanying drawings; wherein:

FIG. I is a plan diagrammatic view showing the buoyant central body withthe buoyant ring concentrically retained by guy wires from a dem'ck onthe buoyant body and net supporting elements extending between the bodyand the ring with the wind engaging vanes shown thereon;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic section through the apparatus showing theanchoring means for the central hub and the arrangement of water andwind engaging vanes and the power plant;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on broken line 3-3 of FIG. 1showing the power plant drive and one fonn of wind vane;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing the detentlatch for the wind vane;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified water vane;

FIG. 6 is an elevation of a combined water and wind vane for the ring; I

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6 showing thedetent for the wind vane;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 6 showing thedetent for holding the auxiliary water vanes in position.

Briefly the invention includes a stationary hub of tubular form which isanchored to the bottom and a rotary drum is guided thereby and uponrotation drives a power unit such as an air compressor which storesenergy, with the drum being driven by wind vanes or water vanes toproduce relative rotation, with a buoyant ring concentrically positionedwith substantial radial space between the periphery of the ring and thebuoyant body so that fishing equipment such as fish nets or fishhookscan be mounted thereon as the buoyant body and ring rotate together, thering being maintained in proper position by radially extending elementsand by guy wires extending from a derrick on the member to the ring.Wind and water engaging vanes may also be mounted on the ring inaddition to those on the drum to increase the power obtained and thevanes are arranged to be rendered ineffective by suitable lever means orthe like.

Referring more specifically to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a tubular hub 1is provided with pivoting anchoring struts 2 adjacent a bottom of thedrum and such tubular hub projects above the drum and is supportedthereon by rollers 3 riding on a suitable track on the deck of thebuoyant drum member 4. The hub I carries a ring gear 5 which meshes witha bevel gear 6 driving a power unit 7 such as an air compressor to storeenergy in a suitable tank. The hub 1 in held stationary and is preventedfrom rotation by anchors 8 which engage the bottom of the body of waterupon which the fishing apparatus is floatingly supported and which maybe drawn inwardly by their cables 9 passing through suitable guides inthe hub which may have pulleys to reduce friction and passing throughguides 9A in the struts 2 with the cables 9 being wound around winchdrums l0 operated by manual cranks with the usual ratchet mechanisms tomaintain them in proper position. For simplicity only one winch is shownalthough several are used.

Wind vanes I1 comprising rectangular frames 12 are mounted by means ofhorizontal hinges 13 (FIG. 4) tothe deck and secured in position bysuitable means which may be another hinge with removable pin andpivotally mounted therein are vanes 14,14 which are held in position byratchet type latches suitably mounted in the sill member of the frame sothe vanes can be maintained in fixed position or in position to permitthe vanes to swing to take advantage of the wind in one direction and tobe feathered into the wind in the opposite direction. By removing thehinge pins on one side the frame the vanes can pivot about the hinges onthe other side of the frame and be laid flat on the deck and the detentsl5 maintain the vanes in the plane of the frame 12. These detents arepivoted in slots ISA in the sills and are held in position by removablepin 15B extending inwardly from the side into openings in segment 15C ofthe detent 15 to hold the detent 15 in proper position.

Water engaging vanes 16 and 17 are mounted on a square shaft I8 withdetent means 19 of suitable type hereinafter described to retain thevane in proper operating position with the detent means being adapted toprevent rotation in one direction when the vane is receiving power andto permit the vane to feather in the opposite direction as hereinafterdescribed.

When this is done the hub l is made in telescoping sections with thebottom section 20 telescoping upwardly, as shown in FIG. 2, and beingraised by any suitable means such as an additional winch or the like.

A buoyant ring 22 of greatly increased diameter is supported from thedrum 4 by means of a derrick having struts 23 extending upwardly fromthe drum and carrying guy wires 24 suitably attached to the ring 22 andradially extending supporting elements or struts 25 are attached to thedrum and to the ring to maintain the proper spacing therebetween andsuch elements 25 are adapted to support nets 26 which may be of thepocket type so that rotation of the drum causes the fish to bemaintained in the bottom of the pocket until removed by the fisherman onthe drum. Alternatively or in conjunction therewith, fishhooks 27 may besupported on lines from the struts 25 and the rotation of the drum withthe ring will assure that the nets and hooks encompass a wide area.

Another type of vane which may be used is fragmentarily shown in FIG. 5where the vane is an arcuate plate 28 fastened by hinges 29 havingremovable hinge pins so the vane may be pivoted about either hinge totake the force of the water currents as shown in dotted lines thereinand therefore is adaptable for operation in either direction uponremoval of the pins at the appropriate end. This type of vane can beused on both the drum 4. and the buoyant ring 22.

Another form of vane which is a combination wind vane and water vane isshown in FIG. 6 and is adapted to be mounted on the ring 22. The vaneincludes a saddle 30 of suitable shape with means to attach it to thering 22 which carries a lug 31 in which a shaft 32 is fixedly mountedand such shaft carries a pair of downwardly extending wate. vanes 33,33which may rotate about shaft 32. A wind vane 34 is also freely pivotedon shaft 32 and may have weights 34A,34A to maintain the wind vane 34 inits upright position. To retain the wind vane 34 against movement in onedirection pivoted latches 35,35 are rotatably supported in suitable lugsso that the latches 35,35 may embrace the adjacent portion of wind vane34 and one of the latches may be lowered to its inoperative position asshown in phantom in FIG. 6 so that the wind vane 34 may swing downwardlywhen it is going against the direction of the wind and will bemaintained in upright position by the other detent 35 shown in fulllines FIG. 6.

The water vanes 33,33 are retained in position by means of detents 36,36of L-shape which are pivoted to the shaft 32 on a horizontal transverseaxis and are adapted to be in the full line positions to retain thewater vane 33 in operative position and the latch 36 on the one side ismoved to the inoperative position as shown in phantom lines on theappropriate side so the detent will permit the water vane to swingagainst the current on the return while when the water vane is movingwith the current the appropriate detent engages the water vane andmaintains the water vane in its substantially perpendicular position tothereby produce the power.

It will be apparent that the drum is suitably compartmented to bebuoyant but to additionally assure the buoyancy thereof buoyant rings 37may be provided to increase the buoyancy thereof and suitable openingsare provided for the passage of the water vanes 16 or 17 to assurecontinuing operation. It will also be apparent that a suitable number ofsuch vanes and a suitable number of wind engaging vanes are provided toassure that the vanes will operate correctly and suitable detent meansare provided in the nature of ratchet means described above to permitthe vanes to swing or feather when moving in a direction against thecurrent of water or air.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 various types of vanes are shown in approximately onearrangement with the fish nets and fishhooks 26 and 27 mounted on thefishing apparatus and FIG. 1 also showing a type of pivoted vane 38 onthe outer periphery of the ring 22 with the vane 38 being similar tothat shown in FIG. 5 but shaped to accommodate circular cross section ofthe ring 22. It will be noted that the vane 38 is secured by hinges 38Hwhich permit the pivoted movement in the desired direction and stops 38Aengage the hinge and prevent rotation beyond substantially the phantomline operative position of the vane 38. lt will be evident that a numberof such vanes will be used, and it will also be noted that the vane 28in FIG. 5 is provided with the stops 28A to limit the pivotal movementin the same manner.

in operation the wind will produce a force of rotation of the wind vanes14,14 assuming a clockwise rotation as viewed in FIG. 1 and thecorresponding detents will be in the opposite position to that shown inFIG. 4 and therefore the wind blowing upwardly will cause the clockwiserotation by the abutment of the detent element 15F, the detent element150 being positioned downwardly and therefor the wind vane 14 will bemaintained in wind force receiving position within the frame 12 and thiswill continue until the frame gets to the 12 0clock position at whichtime the vanes will begin to feather and swing out as the deck rotatesand then when the deck rotates sufiiciently for the same wind vane tocome to the 6 Oclock position the force of the wind will cause the windvane 14 to again close against the detent element 15F and the force ofthe wind will then cause the drum to rotate. Similarly the water vane 16will be moved by the force of the current and will be prevented frommovement in one direction by the portion of the detent 19 which issimilar to that shown at 36 in FIG. 6 so that the deflected detentelement will engage the vane 16 and the force of the current will causerotation of the drum and the other portion of the detent will be out ofthe way permitting the feathering action on the return against thecurrent.

It will be apparent that the several types of wind vanes and water vanesproduce sufficient force to cause the fishing apparatus and power plantto produce the desired action for moving the fish nets and the fishhooksand producing power in the power unit 7 which may be a compressed airunit for storing energy in the form of compressed air.

Each detent 15 is pivoted on pivot pin 15H and is adapted to have threefixed positions so that the wind vanes may operate the drum in either aclockwise or counterclockwise rotation by the proper positioning of thedetent elements 15F or 156. The detent 15 also has an intermediateposition which is obtained by removing the pin 15B from thecorresponding opening in the segment 15C and moving the detent so thatthe detent elements 150 and 15F engage the wind vane 14 preventingpivotal movement of such vane by inserting the pin 158 in the centeropening.

The hinges 13 provide sufficient clearance so that in storms the entirewind vane frame 11 can be laid flat on the deck.

To retain the detents 19,119 or 36,36 for the water vanes in inoperativeposition and in operative position, a resilient latch is provided suchas a spring pressed ball. The detents are arranged to take maximumadvantage of the wind and water currents.

The buoyant ring 22 is made in sections which are held together by loosepin hinges 39 at each joint so that the knuckles of the hingesinterengage and are held in place by the loose pins.

The fishing equipment and particularly the ring 22 is adapted for use ona boat of any suitable type by providing a mast extending upwardly andproviding a rotatable member or hub mounted on the top of the struts 23and attaching the guy lines 24,24 which extend to the ring 22 on the hub100 by any suitable means. Since the ring 22 will have appreciablerigidity, the stress applied by the guy wires 24 tends to maintain thering in concentric relation to the boat or to the buoyant body 4. Thenets and the fishhooks can then be supported from the guy wires 24 byany suitable means which may be extensions of the fishlines carryinghooks 27 or extensions of the net 26.

When the radial elements 25 maintain the ring 22 and the buoyant body 4in radially spaced relation, the rotatable hub 100 provides adequatesupport and does not rotate appreciably.

The boat is propelled in the usual way and the ring when secured only byguy lines 24 to the rotatable hub member 100 will rotate due to thevanes thereon when the boat is propelled in still water so the ring 22with the nets 26 and hooks 27 can rotate to increase the effectivenessof the equipment. Of course, the ring will rotate relative to the boator buoyant body 4 when anchored if there is a wind or a water current.

The tubular hub 1 will provide for the passage of drilling or dredgingequipment which may be mounted on the buoyant body.

lclaim:

1. Floating fishing apparatus comprising a vertical hub, means foranchoring the hub to the bottom of a body of water on which theapparatus is floatingly supported, a buoyant body rotatably mounted onsaid hub, means to support fishing equipment from the buoyant body andcurrent engaging vanes mounted on the body for causing the body torotate and thereby move the fishing equipment through the water.

2. .The invention according to claim 1 in which the current engagingvanes extend upwardly above the water and are mounted in a frame securedto the body and each vane is pivoted on a horizontal axis and to preventpivoting action in one direction to obtain the force of the wind andpermit pivoting action in the other direction to prevent force frombeing applied in the other direction.

3. The invention according to claim 2 in which the frame is pivotallymounted on the body so that it may be positioned substantially parallelwith the water.

4. The invention according to claim 1 in which the current engagingvanes extend downwardly below the buoyant body.

5. The invention according to claim 1 in which the buoyant body is acircular drum and a power plant mounted on the drum and means actuatedby the relative rotary motion between the drum and the hub for supplyingpower to said plant.

6. The invention according to claim 5 in which a buoyant ring is mountedin substantially concentric relation to the drum and hub and a derrickis mounted on the body with guy lines extending to the ring andretaining elements extend between the ring and the adjacent portions ofthe drum and the fishing equipment in the form of nets and hooks aremounted on such element.

7. The invention according to claim 6 in which said current engagingvanes comprise vanes for engaging the air and for engaging the water andare mounted on both the drum and the ring.

8. The invention according to claim 7 in which means are provided torender the vanes inoperative.

9. The invention according to claim 1 in which a buoyant ring ofsubstantially greater diameter than the maximum dimension of the buoyantbody surrounds the buoyant body and is maintained in accurate positionby elements extending from the periphery of the ring to the periphery ofthe body and the fishing equipment is suspended from such elements.

10. The invention according to claim 9 in which the hub is tubular andextends completely through the buoyant body and strut means are pivotedto the hub below the buoyant body and the means for anchoring the hubincludes cables passing through the hub and guided by the struts withthe cables secured to anchors spaced outwardly from the hub to preventrotation thereof.

11. The invention according to claim 10 in which means are provided onthe hub to draw the cable inwardly to permit passage in shallow waterand the hub includes a telescoping section which raises upwardly by theaction of the cables and water engaging vanes requiring less depth arethe current engaging vanes.

12. The invention according to claim 9 in which the ring is made insections which are connected by loose pin hinges one positioned on theinner periphery and the other positioned on body and guy lines extendingfrom the rotatable member to the buoyant ring and means to supportfishing equipment from the guy lines.

15. The invention according to claim 14 in which current engaging vanesare mounted on the buoyant ring and the buoyant body is a boat.

1. Floating fishing apparatus comprising a vertical hub, means foranchoring the hub to the bottom of a body of water on which theaPparatus is floatingly supported, a buoyant body rotatably mounted onsaid hub, means to support fishing equipment from the buoyant body andcurrent engaging vanes mounted on the body for causing the body torotate and thereby move the fishing equipment through the water.
 2. Theinvention according to claim 1 in which the current engaging vanesextend upwardly above the water and are mounted in a frame secured tothe body and each vane is pivoted on a horizontal axis and to preventpivoting action in one direction to obtain the force of the wind andpermit pivoting action in the other direction to prevent force frombeing applied in the other direction.
 3. The invention according toclaim 2 in which the frame is pivotally mounted on the body so that itmay be positioned substantially parallel with the water.
 4. Theinvention according to claim 1 in which the current engaging vanesextend downwardly below the buoyant body.
 5. The invention according toclaim 1 in which the buoyant body is a circular drum and a power plantmounted on the drum and means actuated by the relative rotary motionbetween the drum and the hub for supplying power to said plant.
 6. Theinvention according to claim 5 in which a buoyant ring is mounted insubstantially concentric relation to the drum and hub and a derrick ismounted on the body with guy lines extending to the ring and retainingelements extend between the ring and the adjacent portions of the drumand the fishing equipment in the form of nets and hooks are mounted onsuch element.
 7. The invention according to claim 6 in which saidcurrent engaging vanes comprise vanes for engaging the air and forengaging the water and are mounted on both the drum and the ring.
 8. Theinvention according to claim 7 in which means are provided to render thevanes inoperative.
 9. The invention according to claim 1 in which abuoyant ring of substantially greater diameter than the maximumdimension of the buoyant body surrounds the buoyant body and ismaintained in accurate position by elements extending from the peripheryof the ring to the periphery of the body and the fishing equipment issuspended from such elements.
 10. The invention according to claim 9 inwhich the hub is tubular and extends completely through the buoyant bodyand strut means are pivoted to the hub below the buoyant body and themeans for anchoring the hub includes cables passing through the hub andguided by the struts with the cables secured to anchors spaced outwardlyfrom the hub to prevent rotation thereof.
 11. The invention according toclaim 10 in which means are provided on the hub to draw the cableinwardly to permit passage in shallow water and the hub includes atelescoping section which raises upwardly by the action of the cablesand water engaging vanes requiring less depth are the current engagingvanes.
 12. The invention according to claim 9 in which the ring is madein sections which are connected by loose pin hinges one positioned onthe inner periphery and the other positioned on the outer periphery. 13.The invention according to claim 9 in which said current engaging vanescomprises wind engaging vanes having means to pivot the vanes and meansto prevent pivotal movement in one direction while permitting pivotalmovement in a direction to feather the vanes into the current. 14.Fishing apparatus comprising a buoyant body, a mast extending upwardlyfrom the buoyant body, a rotatable member on the mast, a buoyant ringsurrounding the buoyant body and guy lines extending from the rotatablemember to the buoyant ring and means to support fishing equipment fromthe guy lines.
 15. The invention according to claim 14 in which currentengaging vanes are mounted on the buoyant ring and the buoyant body is aboat.